Chapter III: Piccolo's Warning

Minutes later, when Boxer found an undamaged Capsule Corporation building, the three of them sat down to discuss the impending situation.

Trying to be a good host, Boxer brought out three cups of tea for everyone. 18 picked hers up cautiously, checking the temperature, while Piccolo focused his mental energies to bring the tea up to his lips without lifting a finger. Boxer shot him a funny look, and Piccolo just stared right back at him, his hard gaze seeming everlasting.

They sat in armchairs arranged in a triangular fashion. Boxer pushed his glasses up and picked the tea up close to his lips. Immediately, his glasses fogged up again, and taking his pocket handkerchief, he rubbed the moisture off and put his tea down to cool.

He glanced at Piccolo again as he put the tea cup down… and had the tea remain floating in the air in the exact cup shape! He didn't so much as raise an eyebrow, and continued to sip his tea as normal. When he finished, he looked at 18, and then at Boxer.

"I came here under grim circumstances," he finally began. "Before I begin, though, Boxer should know who I am, how I came to know 18, and how I know his ancestors."

Boxer nodded. "All right then," Piccolo continued. "I'll tell you:

A little over a thousand years ago, there was a man named Kami who was sent from Namek as a child. He landed on Earth, up at Yanzubit Heights. Kami was from the Dragon family, a divine bloodline of the Namekian race. He used this knowledge to ascend to the position of Guardian of the Earth, and created the Dragonballs, sacred stones that, when collected, would summon Earth's eternal dragon, Shenron, from the very depths of time. Shenron would grant one wish; no matter who made that wish or what that wish was. But he would never grant the same wish twice.

But Kami had seen terrible things on Namek before he had left. He saw the weather swelling up; his people starving and dying. These horrible images taunted him throughout his dreams, until, one fateful night, he banished his evil side completely from his body. Unfortunately, this evil took a manifestation; a direct clone of Kami.

"This manifestation," Piccolo paused, "Was named Piccolo."

"Yah!" Boxer cried as he scrunched up in the armrests of the seat. "You're a manifestation of evil?"

"No!" Piccolo exclaimed. "If you would let me finish, I would explain who I am." He continued:

Piccolo wrought havoc upon the Earth, until an unusually powerful boy with a tail named Goku stood up to Piccolo's amazing power. It seemed inconceivable, but this tailed teenager single-handedly destroyed Piccolo.

However, upon his death, of his everlasting hatred for Goku, Piccolo used his last breath to create an egg, so that he would have an offspring and carry out the mission to destroy Goku. That is how I was born.

Having my father's last visions implanted in my memory, I was indeed born of my father's hatred for Goku. But, not being born of evil itself, I was a little more flexible. I only fought Goku at the World Martial Arts tournaments, although I never won.

Goku and I were always archrivals, until a fateful day when the Earth received a mysterious visitor named Raditz. Raditz was Goku's brother, and revealed his true origin. Raditz, two other Saiyans named Nappa and Vegeta, and Goku himself, were the last survivors of a doomed planet called Vegeta. Vegeta had been destroyed by their Lord, the evil Frieza. However, unable to stand against the mighty tyrant, the Saiyans were forced to continue working for Frieza, and they now wished to recruit their lost compatriot, Kakarot, AKA Goku.

Due to Raditz's kidnapping of Goku's son and my own desire to rule the world, Goku and I teamed up to stop Raditz. In the end, Goku gave his life so that I could destroy Raditz, but I realized that I shouldn't have been fighting against Goku, my only equal in the world.

To make up for my own folly, I trained Goku's son, Gohan, to prepare for the other two Saiyans, who would arrive in a year. A complex chain of events passed in which I eventually ended up on the planet Namek for the first time ever, fighting against Frieza with Gohan, Krillin (a defender of the Earth), and, strangely enough, Vegeta.

Our efforts were in vain, but Goku finally arrived on the battlefield, stronger than ever before. He had achieved what Frieza had feared most; the very reason why he had destroyed the planet Vegeta. Goku had become a legendary Super Saiyan, the most powerful fighter in the universe. He easily defeated Frieza with his newfound powers.

This is where your origins come in. When we had a short time of peace on Earth, Vegeta fell in love with the scientific backbone of our team, Bulma. Thus, the royal Saiyan bloodline was continued, but became more and more diluted with human blood after each generation.

Now, after many generations, here you stand the descendant of the Saiyan prince Vegeta. Some of his strength is still left in you, and with proper training, you may become strong enough to aid 18 and I.

"That sounds all fine and dandy," Boxer said, "But then how do you know 18?"

"Well," 18 entered into the conversation, "Let's just say that after another complex series of events, I joined the team. This team, the Z Fighters, was all of Earth's most elite fighters."

"Who were they?" asked Boxer. "Can you tell me about them?"

Piccolo recollected something. "Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Chaotzu, Yajirobe, Vegeta, Trunks (the son of Vegeta and Bulma), Goten (Goku's other son), 18 and myself were all part of this team at one point or another. Each fighter has a complex history."

"All right, just one more thing," Boxer demanded. "If this was a millennium ago, how are you two still alive?"

"I have always been a defender of the Earth," said Piccolo. "But I have also been revered by the Nameks. Every ten years, the Nameks send their strongest warrior to Earth to fuse with me. You see, Nameks have the ability to fuse with one another, the more powerful form becoming dominant, which is why I appear instead of the other Namekian warrior. Although I didn't know this at first, I seemed to absorb the remaining lifespan of whichever Namek I had fused with, and these life spans are cumulative. Even if I never fused with another Name, I'd have another good fifteen hundred years on this mortal plane. It's sort of a conditional immortality."

"Well, that sounds fine," Boxer questioned again, "But what about you, 18? I know that humans can't fuse with one another, so how are you still around?"

"Simple," she replied. "I am not human."

"What???" exclaimed Boxer. "How could you not be human? You're one of the nicest looking humans I know!"

"No," she shook her head. "I WAS human, but that was a very long time ago. I was turned into a cyborg; an Android. I am only partially human and partially mechanical. Krillin, the defender of Earth whom Piccolo told you about, tried to use the Dragonballs to make me human again, but it was out of Shenron's range of power. So I waited out the long years, and saw my own husband, Krillin, die. Like Piccolo, I have conditional immortality. Assuming that no one kills me, I can hang around for as long as I want."

"What fascinating histories," remarked Boxer. "Well, if that's the case, I'm going to build another gravity capsule and start training myself! I know I can become stronger."

"I'm afraid you're really going to need to train hard in a very short amount of time," Piccolo chimed in, rejoining the conversation. "I have come bearing bad news… but first, Boxer, tell me about yourself."

"Well," he began, "I own the Capsule Corporation. I'm twenty-three years old, and I have trained a little bit in the Kame-Sennin martial arts style."

Piccolo smiled. "Just like Goku."

18 grinned. "Vegeta wouldn't approve."

"Anyway," Boxer continued, "You've already witnessed my mechanical ineptitude. That robot was supposed to be a training device to help 18, but instead, I screwed it up and didn't set it with the right features. As a result, the whole complex nearly got destroyed. Piccolo, I don't want to run the Capsule Corporation. I want to study the Kame-Sennin! You see," he said, his voice dropping, "Someone killed my parents. Just two months ago, my parents ran the corporation and I was free to train… but during the night, for some strange reason, I heard a loud noise coming from their room, and I distinctly heard them screaming. Running as fast as I could, I arrived moments too late… I saw a dark figure crouched by the windowsill staring at me, and then it vanished. When I turned on the lights, I saw… blood… and… and…" He put his head down. "I'm sorry; I can't go on any longer…"

He felt Piccolo's hand on his shoulder. "I feel your pain. But once you train, you can avenge them. And you must train hard. The bad news I bear is as such." He took his hand off of Boxer and turned to look at both him and 18.

"Lately, I have been having strange visions in my sleep," confessed Piccolo. "I have seen two dark and horrible figures that I know I have seen somewhere before. I try to rush forward and fight them, but they begin to emit a golden light… then there is a white flash and I wake up."

"Often," he continued, "Especially for a defender of the Earth, these dreams can mean that serious harm is coming our way. As the dream gets more vivid, I can sense the situation becoming more impending. 18, Boxer, we all must train to prepare ourselves for these two nightmarish fiends."

18 nodded. "There is no time to waste," she said. "I am going to return to the space capsule and continue my training. Boxer, when you get a chance, I want that thing to go up to 2000 times Earth's normal gravity! I'll need to train hard."

Boxer gulped. "2000 times Earth's gravity? That's suicide!"

"So is not getting stronger," she said.

"All right," Boxer agreed, taking his handkerchief and wiping the sweat from his forehead. "2000 times Earth's normal gravity. What about you, Piccolo? And what about me?"

"Me," Piccolo explained, "As for me, I will meditate and spar with my multi-form technique, as I always do. As for you… you'll need some serious training to become like us. There will be three steps to your training. First, I will teach you how to fly. Second, you must study thoroughly the Kame-Sennin transcripts left by Master Roshi. Now listen, because this is extremely important," he said, lifting a finger.

"You MUST study until you can flawlessly perform the Kamehameha Wave! It was Goku's most trusted attack, and it will prove indispensable in the battles yet to come."

Boxer nodded. "Can do," he acknowledged.

"Third and finally," Piccolo began to wrap it up, "You must utilize an extra space capsule or gravity chamber or something of the like and work your way up to training at 100 times Earth's normal gravity." Suddenly, without any warning, he snatched Boxer's glasses and crushed them in his bare hand.

"Hey, my glasses!" cried Boxer. "What'd you do that for?"

"They'd be crushed by the gravity anyway," Piccolo replied. "You're the one who owns the big technology company; get yourself some laser surgery."

Boxer rubbed his eyes. "I never knew that fighting had such a… cosmetic element to it."